


The Beginning of the End

by 6purplecats



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Gen, Zombie Apocalypse, zrp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-01-19 16:56:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12414213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/6purplecats/pseuds/6purplecats
Summary: The adventures of Joshua Murphy and his two traveling companions in the Zombie Apocalypse.





	1. The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prologue to an RP I'm doing with my friend, CamilaCantThink! People who have read a one-shot of mine titled "Thursday, 3:27 PM" will recognize Tetsuya from there.  
> I also recommend reading If You're Here by CamilaCantThink! There's a wink (or maybe even a full-on face spasm) to her stuff in a later chapter : )

Joshua Murphy drove faster than he had ever driven in his 57 year-long life. His car slowly filled itself with smoke from the pipe clenched tightly between his lips. He left cornfield after cornfield behind, flew past dozens of deserted country roads leading to all kinds of small towns. The empty roads he traveled were in huge contrast with the freeway he had just left behind. Each and every square inch of the highway was packed with families – with or _without_ cars – trying to flee the catastrophes that had taken place in the homes they left behind. Not many of them had realized yet that there _was_ no escaping. Earthquakes, heatwaves, floods... and a virus that could kill thousands of people within a week; make them rise again in less time than that. The whole country was overrun, probably the whole world. There was nowhere left to run.

Josh had left his life as a high school teacher behind him, and he had to say that he wasn’t particularly sad about it. He had never wanted to be a teacher, and the job only became more dreadful when school funding had disappeared. His last days of teaching had consisted of nothing more than him sitting in his chair smoking his pipe, and his students staring mournfully out of the window. School had turned into a continuous moment of silence for all the dead. The dead parents, the dead siblings, the dead friends… The classes shrunk a little each day, until nobody showed up at all anymore. Some were simply skipping, some were dead. Josh told himself he didn’t care.

The only people he had any interest in were the people he was heading towards now, staring at him through unmoving eyes on a faded photograph taped to the dashboard. He cast a grim look upon them: his family. His motivation to keep going. He pushed his foot deeper into the gas pedal.

Within seconds he traded it for the brakes. The screeching of the tires on the road was deafening as the car came to an abrupt halt.

He threw the car door open and shouted “Are you boys _nuts_??!” at the two young men that had jumped onto the road without looking. Brothers, Josh guessed. The older one seemed to be in his mid-twenties, while the younger couldn’t be much older than 19. Both Asian and both with black hair that jumped in each and every direction, though the older one’s reached his jawline while the younger one’s was cut short. What Josh didn’t realize right away, was that the two hadn’t just mindlessly crossed without looking, but had been running from something. He was too busy focusing on the little stuff. Like how he could have hit them with his car, for God’s sake!

He was ready to yell at the boys some more, when he was interrupted by the most inhuman sound he had ever heard. His jaw went slack at the sight of what – and how _many_ – had been chasing the two boys before him, and he didn’t register his pipe as it clattered onto the asphalt. He took hold of the car door once more as he yelled at the boys: “Get in the car, now!”   
Thankfully, they didn’t question the order and quickly unrooted themselves from where they stood, then jumped into the backseat. Before the doors were fully closed, Josh stepped on the gas and the car flew forward, hitting some zombies with a sickening _crack._

The remaining zombies stretched out their arms at the departing vehicle. They stumbled after it in a painfully slow pursuit, until they forgot what they were doing. Then the group stumbled away again, desperately looking for something else to satisfy the roaring hunger vibrating through what was left of their bodies.

For a while, the only sound was the roaring of the car’s engine and the rumbling of what appeared to be an oncoming storm. Josh frowned as he observed the grey clouds now obscuring the setting sun. So much for reaching a safe place before nightfall. Despite it being summer, the days seemed to be getting shorter. Probably another side-effect of the apocalypse. He took a look at the boys in the backseat, who still looked pretty shaken up. They hadn’t spoken at all, not even questioning where Josh was taking them. Josh felt an undecipherable feeling crawl through his chest when he realized these boys could have died if he hadn’t gotten sick of the packed freeway and promptly taken the first exit he saw. Thankfully, this alternate route wouldn’t slow him down too much. Especially without police to make sure he stuck to the speed limit.

As the last ray of sunlight disappeared behind the horizon, Josh parked the car next to the road. “I’d say now’s a good time to call it a day,” he said.  
He turned around in the driver’s seat to face his newly acquired passengers, and the older one finally broke out of his inner musings. He scrambled for words for a second before he settled on a simple “Thank you, sir-”

Josh raised a hand before he could say more. “No names,” he said. It was something he had promised himself when he’d left to find his family. His family was his motivation to keep going, but apart from them he had no desire to get attached to anyone. People died at every corner these days, and if he could help it he’d prefer them to be people he didn’t care about.

“You can call me Fresno,” he said. “It’s where I’m headed.”  
He gave his two passengers a questioning look, hoping for their sake they had a specific place to get to, and weren’t wandering around without a goal left. The brothers looked at each other for a second, seeming to converse but not really saying anything. Josh raised an eyebrow in something akin to amusement. He thought only twins could communicate telepathically. Finally the younger of the two turned to him and said: “LA, California.”  
Josh nodded. “I know where LA is, kid,” he chuckled. “I suppose I’ll call the two of you LA and California, then.” The younger scowled slightly at that. Good, at least he had gotten a reaction.

“You two are lucky,” he said. “I don’t know how you were planning on reaching LA by foot from all the way out here, but considering I’m heading in roughly the same direction, I’d say we can travel together for a while.”  
He looked them over, trying to guess if they would be helpful in this real life game of survival, or if they might slow him down too much. He noticed they both carried swords. Perhaps not most people’s first choice of weapon, but he had to commend them on creativity. Not to mention the fact that bullets ran out, while swords could be sharpened. Furthermore the older brother, California, had a gun strapped on his belt. It was not much compared to the arsenal that Josh himself had in the trunk, but at least it was something.

“I suggest we stay here for the night and sleep in the car,” he said.  
Memories of the few apocalyptic movies he had seen in life told him that the safest thing for them to do was to sleep in shifts. His body however, was _begging_ him for a full night’s sleep and his passengers looked like they could fall over at any moment. His guess was that they had just survived their first traumatic experience, which had to be exhausting. Josh sighed as he contemplated the possibility of this being the new normal. Traumatic event after traumatic event, until the bar was raised so high that the word ‘traumatic’ no longer held any meaning.

No. Tonight they would sleep. ‘Let the car’s locks do their jobs while they’re still intact,’ he thought to himself before closing his eyes.

Half an hour later he was out like a light.

 

* * *

  

Joshua Murphy, 57 years old, ex-high school teacher, had one _hell_ of a cramp in his neck the next morning. A stray ray of sunlight had woken him up, and he grumbled about how he would kill for a cup of coffee right about now. If the screams of agony from both his neck and back were any indication, he would need to spend the next night on the cot he had brought with him. Otherwise he feared he might not be able to walk the next day…

“I’m getting too old for this,” Josh mumbled as he stepped out of the car into the cold morning breeze. To his surprise, he found California already up.  
“You a fan of morning exercise?” he asked jokingly. His smile got lost in a grimace however, when he tried stretching and felt his muscles protest. California simply smiled at him. If he had noticed Josh cringing in pain he didn’t comment on it.  
“I’ve been told I have a messed up sleeping schedule,” he said. Josh could tell the kid had meant it as a joke, but there was an undertone to it… unease mixed with loss. Josh didn’t ask about it. After all, he had promised himself he wouldn’t get involved. Involvement would only lead to attachment.

The slamming of a car door behind him notified him that LA had awakened. He tried turning his head, winced at the stab of pain in his neck, and decided to simply rotate his entire body in the car’s direction instead.  
“Good morning,” he greeted quite loudly. Too loudly, if the way LA cringed in response was any indication. He was rubbing his eyes tiredly when he mumbled a perplexed “Morning…” back. He shot California a questioning look, and in response the older simply smiled and shrugged. Simple gestures and yet Josh wasn’t sure exactly what they meant. Part of him – the teacher part – felt insulted by this exclusion from their conversation. The more rational part of him didn’t mind very much. The two of them probably had as little interest in bonding with him as he had in bonding with them. It was better that way.

“Alright, so here’s the deal,” Josh said. “I have a friend who’s a ranger, he lives not too far from here in a cabin in the woods. Before I left I received a letter from him bragging about how secure the place is. The guy owes me a favor, since he’s never paid back any of the money I ever loaned him. I was gonna stop by his place to cash in that favor in the form of food, supplies, and a warm place to sleep for the night. Does that sound good to you?”  
His new companions exchanged a look before nodding hesitantly. Finally LA spoke up. “Do we have any food until then…?” 

Josh sighed and mumbled: “We’ll see if we can find something on the way.”  
The kid was right, of course. They did need some sustenance if they wanted to make it through the day and the fact that Josh had stocked up on guns instead of food may not have been the best decision he ever made. In his defense, Josh had not been thinking clearly when he left town. He had traveled these country roads before, however. If memory served him right, there was a waffle house not too far from their parking spot. For now, they could try scoring some breakfast there.

“Let’s hit the road, boys!” Josh exclaimed while clapping his hands together. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized he was acting like a school trip chaperone. Habits were hard to break; apparently harder than the world was.

Maybe, in an alternate universe where the opposite was true, mankind had finally figured out the great mysteries of life. If there were to be a portal between those universes, the smarter, better humans might laugh at the current state of this world and brag about their knowledge and welfare. And then, this world would grin and respond: “You may know all the secrets of life, but we are receiving answers to a far greater mystery: that of death.”

These ideas, in a way, were correct. The dead things that wandered through the trees lining the road had received all answers they might have once wanted. But their interest had withered and died. They didn’t pay attention to the whispering trees or the gaping mouth of the sky. All they had and all they knew was a bottomless, insatiable hunger. A hunger that spiked when the former teacher’s car came racing by. They weren’t fast enough, however. By the time they made the decision to move, the car had already reached the end of world. Maybe one of the dead things wanted to warn them. Tell them to stop avoiding the inevitable, that the hunger would take them just like it took him. That when the time to receive answers finally comes, they will have already forgotten why they wanted them in the first place. He might have told them that, if he had still been capable of the words needed for it. All that left his withered vocal cords now was a piercing, agonizing scream.

“What the hell was that?” LA said, voicing the exact question that now floated in Josh’s mind. Whatever that scream had been, it was not human. He felt chills run up his spine and stepped on the gas. He didn’t acknowledge the waffle house as they passed it, flames licking it as if tasting the delicacies inside. Smoke reached the open sky. No sign there of the thunderstorm that had plagued them the night before. The reminder that they had no food would follow them high above the horizon in its stead, as well as in their empty stomachs. Josh’s eyes were on the road, not his passengers, so he didn’t know if their eyes were on the burning waffle house as it got lost in the distance.  
Still, he said: “We’ll find something to eat.” Not to reassure them, but to reassure himself.


	2. The Yard Sale that Sells Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Step 1 in an apocalypse: Get Food.

Only hours later did anyone say a word. The sun had already made a steady climb, and the three travelers’ anxiety had not decreased since they had passed the burning waffle house. It was when Josh started worrying they might not find a food source at all that day, when California said something. “Yard sale, we sell _everything_!”

For a second Josh worried that starvation might have gotten to the kid early, when he noticed the huge, hand-made sign next to the road. Of course. They _were_ close to a town, if memory served him right. LA’s voice interrupted Josh’s thoughts. “Can’t we get food there?” he asked. Josh’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that.  
“Yes. Yes, of course!” he said happily. The relief he felt at the prospect of being able to stock up on food was stronger than he liked to admit. His spoiled stomach was not used to going without food for so long.

Josh followed the directions that the sign had provided them, and they ended up in a suburban area that looked disturbingly untouched. Perhaps a little dirty, with trash and dead leaves littering the street, but completely devoid of panicking masses or dead bodies. Josh parked his car in the driveway of a clearly abandoned house.  
“That sign said it was at number 25, should be a walking distance from here. I’d rather not park my car in plain sight. Might as well hang up a banner saying ‘please rob us’.”

California nodded in agreement. “Sounds like good reasoning,” he said.  
It seemed that at least the older of Josh’s passengers was warming up to him. LA seemed a little more difficult to approach somehow. Josh couldn’t blame the kid, really. He didn’t know what exactly had transpired before they got chased by zombies. Maybe they lost someone. Maybe they had to leave someone behind. Either way, Josh didn’t have the luxury of helping the two brothers through the five stages of grief, lest he would have to confront those five stages himself.

The desertedness of the street was quickly explained when they reached Number 25. It seemed that _everyone_ in town had gathered at the Yard Sale that Sold Everything. Josh had never seen a larger crowd anywhere, but that didn’t mean much. He had never gone out much before the world ended.  
The mass of bodies was surrounding a set of tables, all but one scattered haphazardly over a huge lawn that looked like it had seen better days. The other table was situated just outside the gates leading into the yard, with a boy who looked to be the age of a high school student collecting money in exchange for the purchased goods.

LA’s voice suddenly sounded from Joshua’s left: “I’m gonna check if there’s anything we might need in this yard sale.” Josh wanted to stop him and tell him that if there had been any food on this yard sale it would be long gone by now, but the kid had already disappeared into the crowd. California, on the other hand, hadn’t moved from his spot next to Joshua.  
“Don’t worry about him, he’ll be fine,” he reassured Josh.  
Josh sighed. “But he won’t find any food there…”

A thoughtful look crossed California’s face. “No… but the people here don’t look exactly hungry, either. They probably have food stashed away somewhere.” Josh agreed with him, but that didn’t solve the problem of how to get to those secret stashes. He was just about ready to go back to the car in defeat, when he noticed the way California was standing. On his tiptoes, looking around while squinting against the harsh light of the sun. Did he really believe they would find any food here? Was he that optimistic? …Or did Josh just give up too easily?  
A cold feeling took hold of Josh’s chest, and he felt the strong need to prove that last thought wrong. He looked around the area again, his eyes stumbling on the kid at the end table. He was the only one who didn’t look too busy to bother answering questions. It was worth a shot.

“I’ll go talk to that kid, you check if your brother found anything worthwhile in that dump over there.” Josh nodded towards the yard sale, from which the sounds of hundreds of muttering voices had joined together in one low hum. It wasn’t the type of racket one would normally expect from a gathering like this, and the atmosphere was disturbingly tense. Josh would rather not enter the mass of bodies if he could help it, so he left that to California and made his way to their most likely chance at finding food.

Anything he might have planned on saying however, left his mind when he recognized the kid, who perked up at seeing Josh. He grinned widely, but something was off about it.  
“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Murphy! Though I guess I can call you Josh now, huh?”  
The kid’s name was Samuel Ford. One of the last students in Joshua Murphy’s English class. The kid always got Bs, didn’t make a sound in class and certainly never skipped. Or at least he hadn’t, until he didn’t show up one day and then never showed up again, much like every other student Josh had taught right before the end. The former English teacher didn’t waste time on pleasantries. “What are you doing here, Samuel?”

Samuel scowled at that question. Clearly it hadn’t been welcome.

 “My entire family grew up in this town… Came over here for one funeral, but we ended up having to attend so many that we just decided to stay. I inherited this place, as you can see.” He gestured proudly at Number 25, a huge mansion looming over the equally huge yard sale and its customers. “But you’re not here for some sob story, are you? You’re here to talk business! Just like everyone else. So,” Samuel leaned forward, as if he was eager to hear whatever Josh had to say. “What can I help you with?”

Josh felt like he was playing make-belief with the kid. Samuel was the loan shark and Josh was the desperate unemployed hopeless case facing eviction. He was putting on a show, trying to hide the dullness Josh could clearly see behind the kid’s eyes. He had just never seen it before on someone so young.

“I’m just looking for food, Sam,” Josh answered. At that, the boy’s grin got so wide it seemed to split his face in half.  
“Oh really? Food? Well, what a surprise. You’re not the only one, _Josh_ ,” he said. “I mean, do you take me for an idiot? Don’t you think that if I was willing to sell you food I would have stalled it out somewhere?” Sam’s voice was rising to a volume that caused even some of the lethargic crowd to turn their heads. For a second it all felt strangely mundane, like an argument between the grumpy old man and his teenage neighbor, which all the other neighbors were more than happy to gawk at. The magic didn’t last. Josh inclined his head in a surrendering manner.  
“I wasn’t implying that you were stupid. I’ll back off.” He took a step back, then turned around and walked away.

Sam’s enraged gaze burned holes in Josh’s back, and his voice trembled as he yelled after him: “That’s all it takes to get you to give up? No wonder your wife left you…”  
That hit Josh like a brick. A stab of pain went through his chest as memories came flooding back. He wanted nothing more than to turn around and make sure Sam understood that he knew _nothing_ about his family or why his wife left all those years ago. But instead, he clenched his fists. The only reason he came to talk to Sam in the first place was to prove he _didn’t_ give up too easily. But he was doing the opposite and he no longer cared.

Josh made sure to put some distance between him and the end table as he waited for his two traveling companions. He was pretty sure there was nothing at that yard sale that was worth sticking around for now. He briefly wondered if maybe the brothers had simply taken off. Josh wouldn’t blame them if they had. For him, taking the two of them with him didn’t come with any benefits. If anything, it was a hindrance… only providing extra baggage and causing them to need extra food…  
And yet, when LA and California emerged from the crowd, the smallest feeling of relief caught Josh by surprise. Just as quickly as it came however, it was being pushed away. They _would_ split up sooner or later and it would do nothing to help him if he allowed himself to feel bad about that.

Both California and LA looked a bit disheveled as they passed by the end table and made their way back to Josh. LA was carrying a stack of white kits. With a jolt, Josh realized what they were: first aid kits. He had been so busy thinking of food he hadn’t even thought about stuff they might need that _wasn’t_ food. California was busy feverishly writing down God-knew-what on a small notepad with a lime green ballpoint pen, two items which he had undoubtedly bought at the yard sale as well. LA nodded at the stack in his arms. “There were _piles_ of these over there,” he looked over the fence, at the mass of bodies and all the tables hidden within it. His tone was incredulous, and Josh understood why. Where had Samuel gotten all this stuff? And how were they all still here, and not already taken by the crowd?

The combined mumbles of the crowd still mixed into one hum that made the air vibrate. Josh hadn’t been paying attention before at what the crowd was actually doing. They weren’t doing anything. Weren’t taking anything. Josh had seen enough.  
“Let’s get back to the car,” he mumbled. “Maybe we’ll run into a place with food on the road…” He didn’t believe his own words, and neither did LA or California. Still, there wasn’t much else they could do at this point. So they made their way back, with empty stomachs and the sun beating down on them harsher than ever.

 

* * *

 

A woman stood next to their car. She looked to be in her mid-forties. Tall, but hunched over. She had long, dark blond hair that was draped over her shoulders in greasy strands. When Josh and his companions reached the car, she was leaning onto it, breathing heavily. She looked terrible. Sweat stained her sweater, and her skirt was ripped. The sight of her rendered them speechless for a moment, until she looked up at them. An unrestrained amount of desperation clung to her eyes. 

“Please,” she managed to choke out. Her voice sounded gravelly, like sandpaper. “You have to help me!”

Joshua stepped forward. A look of concern crossed his face at the woman’s disheveled appearance. He tried to keep his voice calm and friendly as he said: “Miss-”  
But before he could say more the woman slammed a flat hand onto the roof of the car. “I have money, food!” she choked out. “Whatever you want! Just please!” Her shrill voice rung in Josh’s ears, and he raised his hands in a second attempt to calm down the desperate woman.  
“We will help you,” he said. He glanced over his shoulder at California and LA to see if they seemed to have any complaints about that, but their eyes were focused on the woman. The air felt tense, but Josh couldn’t remember the last time he _hadn’t_ been tense. He turned back towards the woman. “We just need to know how.”

Her eyes flickered between the three men for a couple of seconds, focusing not just on their faces, but on their weapons as well. Finally she pushed herself off the car and started walking. “Follow me,” she said. Her voice was hoarse from the yelling she had just done, but she sounded a little more sane now, which put Josh’s nerves at ease just slightly. He checked to make sure the gun he had hidden underneath his shirt, sticking out from the waistband of his jeans, was still there. Then he jogged a bit to catch up with the woman, who was walking at a brisk pace, despite an obvious limp. California was suddenly next to him, both eyebrows raised. “What do you think she needs from us?” he asked. His tone didn’t give away anything about how he felt about the situation, his tone as light as if he was asking Josh what he thought of the weather. Josh shrugged.  
“I don’t know, but she said she has food,” he mumbled. “…I don’t think she’s armed,” he added as an afterthought.

Josh realized that maybe he had acted too quickly. They didn’t know if the woman could be trusted, he wasn’t even certain she was unarmed. But despite all that, there was something about the woman that Josh couldn’t quite put his finger on. He really wanted to help her. “She just… looked at us as if we were her last hope,” he said. California nodded in agreement, a look on his face Josh couldn’t quite decipher.

LA was walking not too far behind them, and Josh was certain that he could hear what they were saying, but the younger of the brothers didn’t offer his opinion on the matter. Josh got the strange sensation that maybe he had subconsciously taken the leadership role in their little group. Maybe because he was the oldest, or maybe because over 30 years of teaching experience had perfected the authoritative edge to his voice. Hell, maybe it was because he owned the car! Either way, the thought of the two brothers seeing him as someone who knew what he was doing struck a strange fear in him. This was his first apocalypse too, but for some reason he couldn’t get himself to tell them that. They trusted him, which was a foreign yet nice feeling.

Only two streets away from where their car was parked, the woman stopped in front of a house. She didn’t hesitate as she unlocked the gate surrounding the yard and walked up the porch steps toward the front door. She motioned for the three men to follow her.

The hallway was cozy. A soft carpet lay on the floor, and all kinds of photos covered the walls. Josh noticed the woman that had lead them here was in a few of them. This was her house, then. She faced them once they had all entered the slightly cramped hallway, and sighed. “I have a whole stack of canned foods in the basement,” she whispered. “You can take anything you want, really.. it won’t matter after you help me.” Josh didn’t get the chance to wonder what she meant by that.

She lifted her skirt.

It was a bite wound. A terrible, crescent shaped bite wound surrounded by dark bruises, on the outside of her thigh. She was infected. The amount of fumbling it took before Josh finally had his gun pointed at her was shameful, but in the corner of his eye he noticed that at least California had managed to get one out more quickly than him. LA had his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to pull it out of its sheath if necessary. The woman dropped her skirt and raised her hands. Unlike the waves of desperation that had been pouring off her back at the car, Now she radiated an eerie calm. “I’m not a zombie,” she said. Her voice was soft, shaky. “But I will be. Soon-”

Her sentence was cut off by a loud banging. Josh turned his head so fast it felt like his neck snapped, towards the source of the sound. The bathroom door. The door handle had been removed. “What the hell is in there?” That was the first thing LA had said since they had run into the woman. He sounded almost nauseated, but not scared. Josh couldn’t help but admire that.

The question had thrown the woman off guard. Her eyes started watering. “Grace.” Her voice broke, and Josh put his focus back on her. For a second he thought she might burst into tears. Then, he noticed her gaze wasn’t aimed at the door at all. It was aimed at a framed photo on a cabinet. A kindergarten photo. Now it was Josh’s turn to feel nauseated. The woman started to get restless again. Her breathing sped up and she started shuffling her feet nervously. “If you save us,” she said, “you can take whatever you want from this house.”  
Her eyes shifted their focus on the gun in Josh’s hands, and it finally dawned on him what it was she wanted from them. Before he could say anything, California interrupted his train of thought.

“Wait! You don’t seem to be changing, how long ago were you bitten?” The woman grimaced.  
“It’s been two days, and I _am_ changing, but-” her words were cut off by a groan of pain. She lowered her head for a second and clenched her arms around her stomach as if she was in pain. Her breathing got even heavier, but she kept herself standing and raised her eyes again to meet California’s. “You have to understand.” Her voice cracked, and her watery eyes were finally overflowing. A sob raked through her body. “I can’t leave my baby, I just can’t!” Her crying got heavier, and Josh felt a cold type of determination settle in his heart. He knew what he had to do.  
“I’ll keep an eye on her to make sure she’s still… safe. You two go get any food you can find and put it in the car. After that… I’ll take care of this.”

For a moment, Josh was sure California wanted to say something, but he clamped his mouth shut. Instead, he exchanged one of his infamous looks with his brother. Josh didn’t know whether they were having an argument, or were forming an agreement or a compromise or whatever. But California was silent when he turned back towards Josh and nodded, then followed his brother into the basement, where the woman had said the food was stored. Josh turned back towards the woman, and the look in her eyes was enough to make his own eyes water as well. “Thank you,” she whispered.

 

A gun shot rang. It echoed throughout the calm suburbs, scaring away birds and rodents alike. The customers of the Yard Sale that Sold Everything looked up at the sky in wonder, as if the sound had been the gods attempting to communicate with them. Just as the silence got broken by the first mutterings, a second gunshot sounded. This time the customers didn’t look or wonder. They had already lost interest.


	3. Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Step 2 in an Apocalypse: Get to know your allies

Joshua Murphy, 57 years old, former English teacher, was trying really hard not to get attached to the two young men he was traveling with. He had been convinced that not knowing each other’s names would somehow keep them from becoming anything more than strangers. As it turned out, there had been one variable he hadn’t taken into account. The brothers did not know his name. He did not know the brothers’ names. But the brothers knew each other’s names. And it seemed that Josh’s no-name rule couldn’t keep them from using those. It was how Josh, despite his carefulness, eventually came to know his companions as more than just the destination he was taking them to.

He first heard LA’s real name in a roadside shop.

The shop was in a horrible state. Bullet holes peppered the wall adjacent to the door. The glass in the door and windows was shattered, littering the floor with shards. The store was filled with toppled over display cases, and fake designer watches reflected the light of the setting sun onto the wall in strange patterns. On a shelf behind the register the red numbers of a satellite clock stood out within the gloom. Josh had not seen a functioning clock since he had left his house… How long ago was it? He almost laughed. Time was meaningless now. That clock was worth nothing.

The nastiest part of the gas station however, was the smell. Or rather, the source of the smell. In the middle of the store, a decaying body lay on the floor. Its head was not cracked open, no brains harvested from its skull. Instead, a bullet hole found itself right between its eyebrows. A Dead zombie.

Meanwhile, the three Living people in the gas station were scavenging for food and gas. The sight of the completely ransacked store almost made Josh pass it by without checking it, but his eyes caught a door behind the register. A storage space, maybe? The lock looked old-fashioned. Josh wondered if he could break it open.

In the meantime, LA and California were searching the debris. The likelihood of them finding anything useful there was very small. It would be more useful to send them outside to check the perimeter, but Josh didn’t feel like splitting up. He wasn’t keen on the idea of losing sight of the brothers. He told himself it was because there was strength in numbers. They were useful to him. He didn’t let himself think about the possibility that simply not knowing their names was not enough to stop him from caring about them.

After Josh’s fifth attempt to pick the lock with a hairpin he had found on the floor, California emerged from behind a display case holding a magazine with the cover partly torn off. He made his way to his brother and nudged him with a grin before pointing at an article. “Look, I found you in this.”  
Josh could hear from LA’s tone that he was undoubtedly frowning. “In an outdated celebrity gossip magazine…?”  
The pages of the magazine rustled as California pushed it into his brother’s hands. “Just read it!”

LA read the title out loud. “’NBA Star Taiga Kagami gives exclusive stories about his homelife’…?” His tone sounded even more questioning than before.  
His brother didn’t sound deterred by that when he answered: “Not in the title, here! You share a name with some famous basketball player’s husband. That’s cool, right? Tetsuya isn’t a very common-“

LA’s name was Tetsuya.

The lock opened with a click, and the door swung open with a loud creak, loud enough to cut off the brothers’ conversation. Behind the door was a walk-in storage closet. The smell was bad, though the shelves were empty. No food or other useful items to be found. The corners of the tiny space were hidden in shadow. Something that wasn’t a light bulb was hanging from the ceiling. A stepladder lay on its side on the floor. The closet was just big enough for one person.

They left the ex-owner of the shop in peace, wondering if he was now in the same place as the decaying zombie on the floor.

 

* * *

 

Josh learned California’s name three days later.

They had reached a camping ground and were planning on staying the night there. Josh had been driving all day, turning down California’s offers to take over. It seemed LA didn’t know how to drive. Needless to say, Josh was in desperate need of some sleep, so when they passed a sign indicating the next exit would lead to a camping ground it had been like a sign from the heavens.

Now that they had arrived however, it felt like the angels had simply wanted some entertainment. A little ways from their car, a person was kneeling on the ground. They were rummaging through a backpack. They had long, stringy hair that was caked in dirt. From this distance it was impossible to make out what the person looked like apart from that, but Josh had no doubt about what it was. There was no other car in the parking lot. No tents or other provisions anywhere nearby. It had to be a zombie. His hand went to the gun he kept in the glove compartment.

“Wait!” California’s voice rang out from the back seat. Josh jumped and turned around angrily, but California wasn’t looking at him. He was too busy stepping out of the car. Josh’s eyes widened.  
“What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed at him. California didn’t answer him, and now LA was getting out of the car too. Josh let out a frustrated sigh and opened his own car door in defeat.

They approached the zombie slowly, California taking the lead. Josh briefly wondered if the kid simply had a death wish when he finally started explaining. “Look at what’s in the pack,” he said softy. The zombie had its back to them; they were lucky it had not discovered them yet. His eyes wandered to the contents of the backpack, which had been spread out over the floor. Photographs. It seemed the zombie was busy ripping up a photo album.

“Why would they care about photos?” LA mumbled in the same low volume California had used. California did not answer him, instead he stepped a little closer to the zombie. “Hello? Ma’am…?” he tried calling out. Josh aimed his gun at the zombie. What the hell was the kid doing? He glanced over at LA to see if he could offer some insight in his brother’s insanity, but the younger was simply watching the zombie with a curious look on his face. Josh kept his gun steady.

“Ehm, sir…?” California tried again. Admittedly, it was hard to tell. The combination of long hair, which was dyed a bright pink beneath all the caked mud, and broad shoulders caused the zombie to look quite ambiguous.

The zombie paused its rummaging. It looked up slowly at California, a look of subtle confusion on its face. Josh would have thought it to be just a lost hiker, maybe someone homeless, if it hadn’t been for the zombie’s sallow skin. And the blood around its mouth.  
For one agonizing moment, California and the zombie just looked at each other. The distance between them was about 12 feet; the closest any of them had ever been to a living zombie. The staring lasted long enough for Josh to wonder if this zombie, somehow-

An inhuman shriek left the zombies throat and it lunged forward in one crude movement.

The next moment it was pushed back, again and again, until Josh had run out of bullets. Three had landed in its head. The rest were a waste that made Josh grind his teeth in frustration.

California was on the ground now, having tripped in an attempt to jump back from the zombie. His eyes were wide with shock, but there wasn’t a scratch on him. Josh let out the breath he had been holding since they’d left the car.  
LA was by California’s side in an instant, helping him up and asking questions in a low volume, and a softer tone than any Josh had heard him use yet.

“You alright? Can you stand? Hey, look at me.”

Because California was still staring at the zombie. He finally got shaken out of his trance when Josh grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet – perhaps more roughly than strictly necessary. “Let’s get outta here…” he grumbled.

He wasn’t as much upset with California for being naïve, as he was with himself for almost hoping for the same thing. That zombie hadn’t looked at California like he was a meal. At least… not at first. He didn’t miss the way California limped slightly on his way back to the car. He must have hurt himself tripping.

As they drove away from the zombie further into the campsite, California spoke up with a trembling voice. “I wasn’t the only one who saw that, right?” No one answered.  
“That-that zombie… they were… I mean…”  
No one answered.  
“The look in their eyes?”  
No one answered.

 

* * *

 

A little while later they were parked a long way away from the zombie. LA had taken out one of the many first aid kits they had gotten from the yard sale, and promptly pointed at a decrepit bench. “Sit,” he ordered California, who was obviously favoring his left leg as he climbed out of the car. The bench let out an ominous creek as California sat down on it, but seemed to hold him alright. LA quickly went to work on the ankle. As he did so, California kept silent, obviously still shocked from their previous encounter.

Josh tried to keep himself busy in the meantime by gathering some firewood. It seemed a storm had passed by this campsite recently, as the overgrown grass was littered with twigs and branches. Enough fuel for a hearty campfire. As he was working, he could hear LA declaring California had just sprained his ankle, and that it should heal properly if he didn’t overwork it for a few days. Then LA went to work on bandaging it.

Josh expected California to stay silent through this as well, so he couldn’t help but strain his ears a little when California mumbled something. “This must be how Adrian felt all the time…”

Josh didn’t know who Adrian was, but the silence was just long enough for him to deduce that Adrian had not made it. “I’m sorry,” he heard California add softly.

 He took care to keep gathering firewood, so he wouldn’t appear as if he was purposely listening in on the brothers’ conversation. He debated whether he should just go search for firewood outside of earshot, or if that would only make things worse, when LA spoke up calmly, much too calmly.

“It’s fine, we don’t have to pretend the people we lost didn’t exist.”  
“You know, it’s possible he-“  
“Ketil.”

And Josh paused, and wished he had gotten out of earshot when he still had the chance. The calm in LA’s voice hadn’t lessened when he spoke his brother’s name, but there was a finality in his tone that effectively shut California up. At least, for a few moments.

“I don’t want to lose anyone else.”  
“Me neither. So the next time we run into a zombie,” Josh could hear a sharp intake of breath from California as LA tightened the bandage, “We should just keep our distance.”

Silence reigned again after that. LA helped Josh collect the rest of the firewood while California remained on the old bench, on LA’s insistence. Josh didn’t think California would have left the bench soon even if LA hadn’t told him to stay put. He was staring at the grass that reached over his shoes, a thoughtful frown on his face.

They heated up some canned beans and ate, then decided they would sleep in shifts. It felt like barely any time had passed when Josh found himself staring at the night sky, cursing himself. His turn to keep watch was coming to an end. He should be waking California now to take over, who would in turn wake up LA for the last shift.

But, he couldn’t. And he cursed himself.

He thought about the wife who had left him and the son she had taken with her. He thought about his own cowardice and pride, that had kept him from going after them. Kept him from even seeking contact. He was 35 when his wife had beamed at him and announced they had finally done it. She was pregnant. His son had to be 22 now. He glanced over at the sleeping figures of his companions. Shadows cast by the campfire were dancing over their faces.

The jig really was up then. He knew both their names now. And somehow, such a small detail had rendered him completely unable to fool himself any longer. He had promised himself he wouldn’t get attached. That he wouldn’t get too involved. So if he were to lose them, or when they would inevitably split up, he wouldn’t care.

He had completely and utterly failed at keeping that promise.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some winks to Thursday, 3:27 PM and If You're Here, hope you caught them all~


End file.
